What Consumers Should Know About Packaged Food Label s

Here  are  the  declaration made mandatory by FSSAI  for  food manufacturers on  their  food product packaging .( includes  bakery products ). Consumers are advised to check details before buying food products  to ascertain that food is good for consumption.

• Name , trade name  or description of  food
• List of  ingredients  in descending  order of  their  composition  by weight and volume
• Specific  declaration  for added  permitted  colours/added flavours  and their class
• Symbol of Veg / Non- veg  food (  Green coloured  circle in a square  with green outline for vegetarian food and brown  colour filled circle  inside the square  with brown outline for non-vegetarian  food )
• Net weight  or number or measure of volume  of  content
• Month and year of manufacture /packing
• Best before date with storage condition
• Nutritional  information  or Nutritional  facts per 100gm or 100ml or per serving of the product
• The food  in which  hydrogenated vegetable fats  or bakery shortening  is used  shall  declare  on the label  that " Hydrogenated  Vegetable  Fats or  Bakery Shortening  used - Contains Trans Fat "
• Where a health claim  of  "  Trans Fat Free" is made  then the  Trans Fat  shall be less than  0.2g per serving  and in case  where the claim " Saturated Fat Free"  is made then  the saturated fat  shall not be more than  0.1gm per 100gm  or 100ml of food .
• Nutritional information are not mandatory  in case of raw  agricultural commodities like  wheat , rice , sugar ,cereal  spice and condiments , table salt  or non - nutritive  products .

In case of any complaints  consumer  can  log in to
www.core.nic.in  or call  1800 180 4566

other  important site on food safety guidelines are
food safety and standards authority of India ( FSSAI)    www.fssai.gov.in
Ministry of consumer affairs , Food and Public Distribution   www.fcamin.nic.in

Low fat and Zero Fat myth

Do you really check labels ?
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Does companies really meant what ever they show on labels ?

Watch this video  .

Labels and symbols on bakery packaging

Food labels and symbols have been made mandatory for food manufacturers by government by almost all countries in the world . High consumer awareness and anxiety for food related issues among masses made regulators to take note and implement laws for food manufacturer .

Any one buying food products must check following things which are available on packaging .

Date of production

This is to declare on which date food items were manufactured

Date of expiry

Most important of all .This declares the shelf life of the product don't buy anything which has crossed or nearing expiry date .This is also termed as ''best before ''in many countries

Manufacturers name and address

Manufacturers have to declare their name and address of manufacturing unit . Sometimes third party manufacturers are involved their name and address would be mentioned along with the marketing firm or principal owner of the product ,in case of any complaint please write to the address mentioned or visit that manufacturing unit.

Ingredients

List of ingredients used are mentioned on the packets so as to make consumer aware of the contents involved in manufacturing of the products . If you averse of any ingredients then you can select any other item .This is mandatory for manufacturer so as to protect consumers from adulteration .

Allergen

This has been recently been added to labels by regulators . Allergen are highlighted in bold by the manufacturers on packets . such as "" traces of nuts and milk present "".

Calories

Calories are declared on each servings for product

Weights

Check the declared weights as there are chances that prodcut might be underweight .

Precautions if any

Some products require special storage precaution .

Batch code s

This is fro tracking product in case of manufacturing defects or problem the batch codes helps in recall.

Then there are various symbols which helps in identifying whether products is

Vegetarian or non -vegetarian

recyclable or non - recyclable

fragile

Way to handle

ISO & HACCP approved

Allergens if any